Tuesday, September 11, 2018

DUELING WITCH HUNTS!

I was scanning the wingnuttosphere this morning and I saw this post at Gateway Pundit:

Gregg Jarrett: Rosenstein, Comey, Yates and McCabe Deceived the FISA Court and Can be Prosecuted

Newly released text messages and records obtained by the House Oversight Committee reveal Peter Strzok and Lisa Page were discussing a strategy to leak unverified information to the media in an effort to damage the Trump administration.

Gregg Jarrett: A lot of people could be subject to prosecution including all the individuals Rod Rosenstein, James Comey, Sally Yates and Andrew McCabe, who deceived the court. They deceived the court, perpetrated a fraud on the court deliberately.

Just another night of programming on Fox, right? But it's a reminder that in the most likely post-midterm scenario -- with Democrats having taken the House but Republicans holding on to the Senate -- we could have not just an avalanche of Democratic investigations of the Trump administration, but rival waves of investigations.

Trump clearly wants to fire Jeff Sessions and Rod Rosenstein, and he probably intends to do it right after the votes are counted in November, regardless of the election results. Maybe he'll hold off if Democrats take both houses. If not, he'll absolutely be gunning for these guys.

That will put Robert Mueller in danger -- but the goal is a Justice Department that does what Trump wants. Now, it's possible that the election results will scare Republicans and lead to some pushback against Trump. It's possible that there'll be a Mueller report by then that will give Republicans pause. It's possible that national outrage and bad polling will worry Republicans. But if Trump gets his way, we could really have genuine witch hunts emanating from Justice -- some of which will be aimed at Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.

What average Americans will see then is not the equivalent of 1973 and 1974 -- the slow uncovering of one party's dirty secrets -- but a political atmosphere in which everyone seems to be under investigation. To the well informed, it will be obvious that the Democratic investigations of Trump and his team are legitimate, while the ones coming from the Justice Department (and possibly the Senate) are phony. But to many Americans, it could just seem as if Washington, across the board, is thoroughly dysfunctional and corrupt -- "they're all crooks."

A serious Democratic wave in the midterms might prevent this. Also, the investigations of Trump are far more likely to hit real pay dirt. But I think we should be ready for a time when the people Trump regards as his enemies are in as much legal danger as Trump.